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Events on Wednesday 16 November 1938 3
1938Battle of the EbroThe longest and largest battle of the Spanish Civil WarThe Republican army crossed the Ebro River in a last major offensive and was then worn down by Nationalist counterattacks. Its defeat destroyed the Republic's army and sealed the fall of Catalonia.
1938LSD first synthesisedAlbert Hofmann creates lysergic acid diethylamideChemist Albert Hofmann synthesised LSD at Sandoz in Basel while searching for a circulatory stimulant. The compound was put aside, and Hofmann did not discover its psychedelic effects until 1943.
1938 – 2002Robert Nozick (1938-2002)Died 23 January 2002, aged 63The American philosopher Robert Nozick made his name with Anarchy, State, and Utopia in 1974, a libertarian argument for a minimal state that became the main counterpoint to John Rawls's liberalism. He ranged widely in later books across decision theory, ethics and the meaning of life. He taught at Harvard for more than three decades.